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Obama, Biden celebrate in confetti cloud

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Elaine Kamarck: In his second term, there are five immediate challenges for Obama

She says he must find United States' footing in fragile Arab world

Kamarck: He must reach a grand bargain with GOP to avoid fiscal cliff

Kamarck: He must find way to deal with fractious Republican party; confront climate change

Now that the campaign is over and Barack Obama has won a second term, the hard business of governing begins again. There's a presidential inbox waiting and it's not too hard to figure out what's in it. Problems don't have Democrat or Republican stamped on them: they just are. So here are my top five issues facing the president.

Finding our footing in the new Arab world

Obviously this election was about the economy first, second and third. But the world intrudes. Our election campaign did not keep terrorists from killing American diplomats in Benghazi, nor did it stop the violence in Syria. When all the ballots are counted and the parks swept clean of the debris from election night rallies, President Obama will have to figure out what is happening in this very volatile part of the world and what, if anything, we do about it.

We intervened in Libya to get rid of an awful dictator, but so far we have not intervened to get rid of the awful dictator in Syria. As the violence escalates and the Syrian president wreaks ever more death and destruction on his people, will we be drawn into an intervention there too? After 9/11 we went to war with Iraq over a mistaken fear of nuclear weapons. Is Iran developing nuclear weapons or are we wrong to be concerned? Will we go to war with Iran too?

While President Obama has been crisscrossing the country looking for votes, the people left behind in Washington have been wringing their hands over the dangers posed to the fragile economic recovery by the severe combination of spending cuts and tax increases that are due to kick in on New Year's Eve. This so-called "fiscal cliff" was the result of politicians kicking the can down the road a few years ago. Will they do it again? Or will there be a grand bargain that actually puts the country on the path to smaller deficits?

There are plenty of plans on the shelf waiting, including those put together by the big deficit reduction commissions such as Simpson/Bowles and Rivlin/Domenici. And there's the plan almost put together by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. The problem isn't the lack of plans; it's the lack of courage. The outlines of any deal have been clear for some time now: Democrats have to give up some spending, especially on entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, and Republicans have to allow for some new taxes. Each side has to hold it's nose if a deal is to be done. Which brings me to the next issue facing President Obama:

Obama must figure out how to deal with a Republican Party in Congress that has become dysfunctional. In 2010 a relatively small group of voters calling themselves the Tea Party launched a surprise attack on the leadership of the Republican Party. Under President Bush, the Republican Party had gotten a little too fond of world domination and a little too dismissive of the party's traditional concern for fiscal discipline. Frankly, they deserved a trip to the woodshed.

But once their new majority in the House of Representatives was won, the leadership overreacted, and rather than forge a majority that could perhaps make some progress, they cowered before their new members like frightened children. The result? No progress. If the Republican leadership continues to tremble before their most radical members, the entire party risks a rightward slide off the face of the earth. And President Obama will have to figure out how to work around them.

It's been 25 years since a Democratic Congress and President Reagan cleaned out the tax code and achieved lower rates and fewer loopholes. But tax loopholes grow back like dandelions in the garden. The current tax code is a mess. It rewards some sectors of the economy and not others. It distorts business decision-making and it makes sure that those who don't need it have plenty of tax deductions. It's time to weed that garden once again.

Amazingly enough in this era of extreme polarization, both presidential candidates have expressed support for lowering the corporate tax rate to 25% and simplifying the corporate side of the code. It's possible that they could agree on the easy stuff on the corporate side and move to the harder stuff on the individual side. Tax reform will be part and parcel of a long-term deficit deal. Tax cuts for the oil and gas industry are a favorite target of President Obama, and they are just one example of many industry-specific tax breaks that might get swept up in a big tax deal.

Election 2012: The best photos 81 photos

Election 2012: The best photos81 photos

Election 2012: The best photos – A blur of waving flags greeted President Barack Obama's victory speech at an election night event in Chicago, Illinois.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden look ahead to a second term and vowed to fight for equal opportunity for all.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Flags fluttered in Chicago as President Barack Obama delivered his victory speech after being reelected for a second term.

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Election 2012: The best photos – First lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden hugged and will spend four more years in the public eye.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Red, white and blue confetti snowed down on President Barack Obama after a victory speech that promised brighter days ahead.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A supporter listened intently to President Barack Obama's victory speech in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – "We know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come," President Obama said in a victory speech met by prolonged cheers.

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Election 2012: The best photos81 photos

Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama embraced Vice President Joe Biden after delivering his victory speech at McCormick Place in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – With first lady Michell Obama at his side, President Barack Obama gave the crowd a wave at an election night celebration in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Children climbed trees outside the White House in Washington as people celebrated President Obama's victory at the polls.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A South Korean woman carried a cardboard cutout of Republican Mitt Romney at an election night party in Seoul. South Koreans watched the race closely.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama rode a wave of broad support from minorities, women and moderates to win re-election.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Emotion washed over an Obama supporter as the newly reeleted president deivered his victory speech in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama embraced first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia moments before he delivered a rousing victory speech.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Obama supporters beamed and cheered as he delivered an inspiring and inclusive victory speech.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Victorious, President Barack Obama was joined onstage by first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Young Obama supporters watched the president stride onto the stage to deliver his victory speech.

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Election 2012: The best photos81 photos

Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama clapped onstage in Chicago as the crowd cheered his reelection.

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Election 2012: The best photos81 photos

Election 2012: The best photos – President Barack Obama walked onstage with first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia to deliver his victory speech.

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Election 2012: The best photos – People gathered in Times Square in New York City and celebrated four more years in office for President Barack Obama.

Election 2012: The best photos – Voter Sheresa Walker used a flashlight for poll worker Lloyd Edwards in a tent set up as a polling place in Queens, New York. The area is still reeling from Superstorm Sandy.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Shadows were cast on a wall next to a television advertising "Election Night 2012" inside the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was scheduled to speak Tuesday evening.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A volunteer prepared ballots at a polling station in San Francisco, California.

Election 2012: The best photos – A voter's bicycle leaned against a wall at a lifeguard station, home to a polling place in Hermosa Beach, California.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Voters walked past a plethora of campaign signs after casting their ballots at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Election 2012: The best photos81 photos

Election 2012: The best photos – Jesse James, whose home was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, prepared to vote in a makeshift tent set up as a polling place in Rockaway Park, a neighborhood in Queens, New York.

Election 2012: The best photos – President Obama greeted supporters outside a campaign office in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A jogger on The Strand in the Los Angeles area community of Hermosa Beach passed a directional sign to a polling place at sunrise.

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Election 2012: The best photos – The stage was set for Obama's election night event in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – James Tate, 45, held a sign in support of the Republican ticket in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A nun waited in line to cast her vote in Janesville, Wisconsin.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Children's books about politics lined a wall where citizens waited to cast their vote in Janesville, Wisconsin.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Volunteer David Bowser peeked outside the Pinellas County Democratic Party headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Election inspector Jim Nodorft prepared to hang the U.S. flag outside the Smelser Town Hall as polls opened at 7 a.m. in Georgetown, Wisconsin.

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Election 2012: The best photos – People headed to a polling station at Washington's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Tuesday.

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Election 2012: The best photos – The sunrise was visible through a bus window on Election Day in Chicago.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Voters entered Washington Mill Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, to cast their ballots Tuesday.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Rain did no deter voters from waiting in line in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Sunshine State -- with its 29 electoral votes -- was a key player in determining the next president.

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Election 2012: The best photos – A young girl peered out from under a voting booth as her mother cast a ballot at the Bishop Leo O'Neil Youth Center in Manchester, New Hampshire.

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Election 2012: The best photos – William Carpenter, an assistant fire chief, put up an election rules sign at the entrance of a firehouse polling station Tuesday in Port Royal, Virginia.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Poll worker David Smith used a tape measure to mark a boundary at a Bowling Green, Ohio, school to keep local politicians 100 feet away from where voters cast ballots.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Precinct official Bill Partlow inspected a voting machine before polls open Tuesday in Pineville, North Carolina.

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Election 2012: The best photos – Voters in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, waited shortly after midnight to cast the first Election Day ballots of the U.S. presidential race. For the first time in the village's history, there was a tie.

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EXPAND GALLERY

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Romney concedes election

And finally I come to the issue that was not mentioned in the presidential campaign: climate change. The Democrats' one attempt at climate change legislation died in 2010, a victim of the recession and also of the fear that confronting it would increase energy costs on a public still reeling from the meltdown. The failure of the climate bill began, however, the issue's long, slow slide into oblivion; a slide so complete that both candidates spent their debates falling all over themselves to prove they were friends of coal.

But coal is the big culprit in climate change, a fact conveniently ignored when the votes of Ohio are at stake. How fitting then, that in the very last week of the campaign, a gigantic hurricane would destroy the Jersey shore and close down lower Manhattan. The seas are rising after all; there is something happening after all. What, President Obama, are you going to do about it? The options are plentiful, from taxing carbon to pouring more money into green energy. They just haven't been very palatable. Maybe hurricane Sandy can change that.